Our Location

Tuesday October 14, From Frontignan to La Maguelone

(Click on the town names to see a map of the location)

	We leave Frontignan late morning and continue our cruise on the Canal du Rhone a Sete. The canal passes separated by artificial dams from saltwater lagoons on both sides.
	Here the North side of the canal with villages on main-land in the background.
	Once in a while we pass a group of houses, all with their own fishing boats.

	On the South side we see the Mediterranean Sea just a few 100 meters away.
	After cruising only a few hours we tie up in La Maguelone.
	Not much of a village, just a collection of fishing huts.
	Behind us the open space of the Canal and the lagoons or as they are called in French the Etangs.
	As we are no longer on the Canal du Midi we encounter some commercial traffic, mostly 80m barges transporting goods between the Rhone and Sete.

	The lagoons host countless birds, among them pink flamingos.
	Not far from our mooring we see the old Abbey of La Maguelone. Guidebooks talk about the first settlements here by the Greek BC with their own port and access to the open sea. The site was built and re-built many times, the current church dates from the 14th century.
	The entrance with carvings of St. Peter and St. Paul.
	Inside the old cathedral.

	Only a few steps from the church the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea.
	We return to the Avanti B and see the local collect sea-snails and small crab from the canal by pulling out the tires that work as fenders.
	La Maguelone late afternoon. A small floating pedestrian bridge connects the banks of the Canal. A big barge hosts a restaurant on the North side of the canal, right next to the fishing village. Unfortunately the moorings are on the South bank and the pedestrian bridge is not in service after 6pm, so we unfortunately can't have an evening out and it is a 6 km bike ride to Palavas, the next village.
	So we stay on board in the evenings and enjoy the wonderful sunsets, likely some of the last afternoons and early evenings we enjoy outside on deck the Avanti B.

	The only noises we hear during the night are the birds (flamingos can be quite noisy and sound like frogs) and the occasional fishing boat leaving or returning in the middle of the night, but no cars, planes, .....